Never Alone
by Midoriko-sama
Summary: The relation of two of the shikon-hunting-party


Never alone

By Midoriko-sama

July 26, 2003

"Jerk!"

"Shut up twerp!"

"No I won't shut up you big dog! You made her go away again! Why do you make her angry all the time! You big jerk! Jerk! JERK!"

"Why you little flea! She left `coz she was mad at Miroku this time! Not at me! Why DO you have to get me to kill you every time!! Get OFF my ears!!"

"I won't! I won't!! jerk, I hate you!"

"Hey you twerp! Get this statue off my hands so I can kill you!!"

**************

It was some time before the chilly rain stopped, and it didn't help Inuyasha's mood that he had had to brave half of it before he finally managed to get the heavy statue the kid had fooled him into holding (again) off his hands. Shippo had run off sniffing long before that.

He sat on his branch, in the tree directly over looking the well, his hair stuck to his face and his clothes stuck to the rest of him. These drizzles where the worst. They sopped you slowly without you realizing.

Why had the little one behaved like that was beyond him. It _was_ usually his fault that Kagome went away, he had to admit. But half the times the brat hadn't made such a big fuss out of it. Now Kagome went and got mad at Miroku (who knew why too?) and the twerp took it out on him. Was he teething or something?

It sure felt like it, he growled and frowned, as he rubbed his gnawed-at ears between thumb and forefinger. That little kitsune had been more trouble than help since they had picked him up. He needed to be fed, cleaned, and groomed, and taught. 

He'd taught him how to trek by scent and by sight, noting the different traces of passage that an animal or being left behind. He had taught him what food to eat and what not to, how long meat lasted. 

The only thing the kid never learned was to get it into his thick skull that there was no discussing what he said and that Kagome's time was not only his to monopolize.

Inuyasha looked mournfully down at the well, and angrily brushed his hair off his face. Anything was a good vent for his anger and frustration, he had learned, especially the small things that annoyed the less.

He therefore didn't want to go anywhere near the girl at the moment. Kagome had gone off at Miroku for a reason only they knew apparently, and Kagome having a secret with another did not leave him with the best of speculations, especially since that someone else was a monk with one thing on his mind.

He had promised to marry the exterminator if they survived, but he hadn't answered that girl when she had asked if he would stay faithful to her.

The monk's life would be shorter than the Kazaana would make it if he had chosen the wrong girl to be unfaithful to the exterminator with. At the moment, she was angry and he was angry.

He jumped down and walked

As the shikon became fewer, so did their leads to them. So she was gone more often, to that world of hers. And the brat became more difficult to handle every time. He was growing taller, had she noticed? He had made the pup a new outfit of fur too. Had she seen it? He slept with her in that sack she carried around, and she washed him and fed him, and nurtured him as even Inuyasha's mother had never done with him. Her being a court lady, she hadn't had the time, and the maids had attended to him. Maids that laughed and taunted when his mother was not looking. And when he ran to her, she would weep, but she would leave again.

The bloody twerp had it good. Fine, so he'd lost both his parents, but he hadn't been left to the woods. And the things in the woods. No, never that.

His legs had driven him through the well honed path from the well to the village as his mind had been absent in its musing. No, he didn't want to go see Kagome right now. With her anger and his frustration, all it would gain both was a fight and pain.

The hut smelt of damp wood and of fire. The bent old crone sat in the middle. The monk was still out and the exterminator still fuming angry. The cat was in the corner with the flea hidden somewhere safe.

"Where's Shippo" he growled, looking around once more. But the scent of the kitsune was hours old, and his nose told him better than his eyes of his surroundings. 

"I thought he was with you" said Sango, looking up from cleaning her weapon. Probably from pieces of the monk's skull.

"He was, until he took his fill of my ears and scampered" I said. No use mentioning the statue "I thought he was here"

"There's a storm a brewin`" said the old bent woman at the fire "The rain is stopping only to give us a breath. It shall be back with wrath"

"Then he'll pay doubly for getting me wet" he growled as he pulled the reed door and stepped outside into the mud. He knew none of them would buy that by now. That girl, keh. She had pulled him out of himself, to her, or all people, and then she'd had the impudence to direct his heart towards _friendship_ of these other humans. Keh.

That pup. He was always in trouble, always in the way when they battled. But they all knew that Shippo would come to no harm while Inuyasha was alive. In no way, save maybe for a bite and a bop on the head when he was disobedient. And he got those often.

Now that stupid kit was out in the rain in the woods on his own. Neither a good combination. And Inuyasha would be damned before that little pup got lost enough to start feeling alone. That was something he wouldn't allow.

Whatever it was, he growled at his human heart. It was that for sure that made him think so, made him want to find the little brat in this rain even though his clothes grew heavy over him and his skin grew cold even for him. His hair whipped him every time he leaped, and the scents were being washed away. 

He landed on the very tip of a tree, grabbing the thin top in his hand and leaning as far as his arm allowed, screening his eyes from the rain as he looked out and listened. The rain was getting stronger too.

He spotted the little thing finally, even as thunder rumbled and lightning began hitting the trees. He was a curled up fur ball in an abandoned bird's nest, tiny enough to fit.

He grabbed him up with the nest and all and undid his haori, pulling the front flap open and safely storing the shivering kit there. The pup was going to get it when he woke.

He sniffed his way to the moss his nosed told him there was, and thankfully found the cave the scent had promised. Youkai remains littered one corner of the ground as their only company. Scents in there were years old, so the pup was safe.

Inuyasha sat down on the jagged rocks of the cave floor without so much as a groan. Rough life wasn't what he had to grumble about, he had grown used to it. He used to think that made him strong, better. And it did, but only where is came to the fights. 

He narrowed his eyes at himself. He didn't want to change course of thought. He still wanted to think this was best- better than all other lives. He didn't want envy and despise for other better lives as he hadn't had all his childhood. Because he had known no better

But the pup . . . no, not the pup. Inuyasha frowned at himself. He didn't believe this was the better life anymore, simply because he was protecting the pup from it. He was here, in a cave, when he had always braved the rain much like the kit had done.

On queue the little thing stirred. He had kept the nest because the feathers retained heat, and added to the pup's comfort, but now he pulled it out as the kitsune uncurled.

"Idiot pup, what were you doing, asleep in a summer storm" he scolded immediately, keeping his voice low enough to avoid startling the blinking pup "A tree a few feet off the one you chose got charred with lightning. I TAUGHT you that in storms you go for caves and in other danger you go for trees. Do you ever listen, baka brat!"

"You saved me?" he asked groggily

"Technically" he replied. There was really no saying which tree lightning would strike. "Don't I always"

"Hai" said the cub. He fell silent for a few seconds and noise of the rain echoed in the grotto. 

"Gomen"

"Nani?"

"I said gomen, Inuyasha" 

"Have you caught a fever brat? If you did, I'm in for crap with Kagome, and you're in for crap with me" he growled, and pulled the twigs out of the kit's hair roughly but felt his forehead with all the gentleness he could muster.

"Iie" said the cub, rather angrily, shaking the elder youkai's hand away. Inuyasha smiled. Apparently he had taught the kit other things apart from hunting skills. "I wanted to make peace from earlier, don't poke fun at me, you big jerk"

"Calling me jerk isn't the best way to make your peace" replied the Hanyou, narrowing his eyes at the kit but refraining to give the bop he deserved. The pup was trying, and practice was needed in all grounds.

The pup fell silent again at Inuyasha's anger, and there were some more moments with the increasing noises of the rain and thunder as their only sounds.

"Why did you do that brat?" he asked at last, turning his face to look out. His voice was set as commanding, because the kit always abused of moments when Inuyasha was nice to him "It wasn't my fault that she left"

"Yes it was!" squealed the child. The cave redoubled the noise. His ears flattened back and he growled at the kit. Shippo looked slightly intimidated, but was not daunted "You weren't supposed to let her go!"

"What do you mean brat? You usually make a nuisance of yourself _because_ I don't let her go away" replied the other youkai, catching the cub by the scruff of his neck for him answering back to that growl. Shippo's arms and legs curled instinctively as the Hanyou held him up like a parent carrying him.

"But that's what we both should do! It's your job not to let my mamma go away. I'm always alone when she does" replied the kit in a whine

"No, you aren't" said Inuyasha, frowning

"Yes I am! When Kagome-mamma leaves, you won't come away from the well, and I'm all alone" he said plaintively

"What of Sango, and the monk?" asked the Hanyou "You can be with them, I thought you would be"

"Iie, they're human" said the kitsune stoically "They- they don't understand what I say, when I talk, they cannot understand, about scents, and tracks and hunting. And you never teach me when Kagome-mamma's away either. I'm always alone"

"Kagome's human too" pointed out the Hanyou

"But she understands, and you do too. But you leave and I'm alone when Kagome-mamma leaves"

"I told you already pup, you're not alone. Are you alone now?"

"Iie"

"Then shut up"

The rain pattered on

"Inuyasha?"

"hush now, sleep"

"Why won't you tell the others that you teach me Inuyasha?"

"Because they don't understand". The kitsune's eyes widened and he nodded. Inuyasha lowered him onto his chest and let go of his nape "Now sleep"

It's true. They wouldn't understand instinct. Not a human heart, a youkai's heart then.

The rain raged on outside as the pup snoozed. Inuyasha rose and took them both deeper as the wind changed and began swirling, pushing water into their shelter. Another tree was struck and the scent of burned and fire was brought to him, even though dampened, a few minutes after the thunder made the sleeping kit shiver.

"My Lord?"

"Myoga, weren't you on the cat?" asked Inuyasha in surprise at finding his retainer on his person

"I abandoned Kirara when she took to the insane urge of jumping into the puddles. I was on the honourable Kagome before I alighted on you, My Lord"

"So you know what happened" he stated

"It was about that girl in the village earlier, who Miroku asked his question to. It upset lady Sango, and consequently the honourable Kagome."

"I see" 

"My Lord?"

"What is it?"

"The kitsune child. What the cub said, about you training him . ."

"Hai"

"Then you have decided to adopt the cub?"

"When this thing is over, if I don't kick it, the pup comes with me."

"And the honourable Kagome?"

"That's her choice"

"But the cub is right My Lord. It is your duty to retain her movements. You have marked her with your scent a long time ago, and it intensifies every time you touch her and protect her."

"If she decides to come with us, she will always be welcome"

"But My Lord, you will bleed if she doesn't-"

"Myoga!"

"Hai, gomen"

"If she comes or not, is her choice to take. My . . . the pup comes with me"

"Why my lord, if I may ask?"

"Because he must never feel alone"

End

Dedicated to Leloi. I still think you're the best writer ever.


End file.
